Thursday, March 29, 2018

Not Good

... Robyn Byrd was 13-years-old when she sent [John] Kricfalusi a video of herself talking about her drawings and her dreams of a career in animation, hoping to attract the attention of the hit show’s creator. He responded with an effusive letter and began sending her gifts of toys and art supplies. He helped the young girl establish an AOL account so they could remain in touch and even visited her in Tuscon, Arizona. When she was a high school junior he flew her to Los Angeles to show her his studio. That same trip, she told BuzzFeed, he touched her genitals through her pajamas. She was just 16. ...

... Gerry was a crude man. I had a woman assistant named Mary who was very well constructed. She drove Jerry crazy and finally he couldn't stand it. And one day he came up behind her and he went "Rhhhrr!"... I heard this scream and the chair flew back and the desk got knocked over. And I went running in there and said "What the hell?" I knew Gerry had just left my room... Vince said that Gerry had grabbed Mary... I mean, that's terrible. That's not a class act.

So, did Geronomi get disciplined? Fired maybe? Nope, Gerry was still at Disney into the 1960s. That was the reality back during animation's "Golden Age".

But decades later, the culture hadn't changed much. A Disney TVA director in the 90s had suggestive artwork decorating a large section of hallway; he was told (half-jokingly) by an executive he was "a lawsuit waiting to happen." No punishment was forthcoming.

Kinkish behavior has gone on in animation since its beginning. But political dynamics are way different than they were ten, twenty or eighty years ago. Women don't put up with the twisted, frat boy behavior anymore, and so tales of bad behavior are now hitting the mainstream press.